No. 858
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 24, 2026

Sketches on the Rail.

Characters Found on a Passenger Train.
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March 24, 2026
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JOHN HOPE
alias: WATSON
MANHATTAN BANK BURGLAR

How a former country road in the Bronx called Featherbed Lane got its evocative name

Finding your way to Featherbed Lane (below photo, 1910), in the Morris Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, means passing some seen-better-days streets that offer a history lesson about the borough’s early years. Jerome Avenue, where Featherbed Lane begins, was named for flashy Gilded Age financier Leonard Jerome, who built the Jerome Park Racetrack here in […]
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Ephemeral New York - 7/5/2026

Artifact #93: Soapy's son, hires attorney to stop the slurring of his father's name.

"As his son I am proud of hisefforts to succeed in life"Jefferson Randolph Smith IIIArtifact #93-2Jeff Smith collection(Click image to enlarge) oapy's son hires a legal firm to stop the defamation of his father's name. At age 30, Jefferson Randolph Smith III, Soapy and Mary's oldest son, was protecting his father's legacy and his mother's reputation from "libel" and scandal. He was also
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 10/13/2025
Amen.

Weekend Link Dump

 Welcome to this week's Link Dump, where we wish our fellow Americans a happy 250th birthday!The unveiling of the Victoria Cross.A handy reminder that Robin Hood was no hero.One really freaking long tennis match.The motivations of Richard, Duke of York."Somebody's father" at the battle of Gettysburg.Why we call it a "honeymoon."The dog who loved trains.Now that all other problems on Earth
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Strange Company - 7/3/2026

1617: A miller of Manberna, the hangman’s last

Youth With Executioner by Nuremberg native Albrecht Dürer … although it’s dated to 1493, which was during a period of several years when Dürer worked abroad. November 13 [1617]. Burnt alive here a miller of Manberna, who however was lately … Continue reading →
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Executed Today - 11/13/2020

Jennie Cramer's Tragic Ballad.

(New Haven Independent) Taylor Ward sings "Found Drifting with the Tide" (excerpt), the tragic ballad of Jennie Cramer's murder.“Found Drifting with the Tide” was a song written by A. C. Willis, "Dedicated to the memory of Jennie Cramer," who was murdered in 1881.When the body of beautiful young Jennie Cramer was found on a sandbar
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Murder By Gaslight - 7/4/2026
On the Russians.

June 14, 1893 Big Day In Court

Be sure to stop by our Facebook page tomorrow for a Prosecution Marathon of witnesses. Here are the witnesses for Wednesday, June 14th, Day 9 Rufus Hilliard, City Marshal, Mayor John Coughlin, Mrs. Hannah Gifford (seamstress and dressmaker), Anna Borden ( wealthy socialite who was on Lizzie’s grand tour of Europe, distantly related to Lizzie), Lucy Collett (watching the office of Dr. Chagnon day of the murder), Thomas Bowles ( handyman who once rented a room from Addie Churchill and was wa
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 6/13/2026

Convicts to Maryland, 1773 by Peter Dickson

  [Editor’s note: Guest writer, Peter Dickson, lives in West Sussex, England and has been working with microfilm copies of The Duncan Campbell Papers from the State Library of NSW, Sydney, Australia. The following are some of his analyses of what he has discovered from reading these papers. Dickson has contributed many transcriptions to the Jamaica […]
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Early American Crime - 2/7/2019
Belles of the Bowling Alley. | An Irishman and a Yankee Settle a Dispute.

Sketches on the Rail.

Railroad-Characters

Sketches on the Rail - Characters Found on a Passenger Train - Beats and their Games - Trying to Change a Shirt in a Tunnel -"Funny Business" in the Back Seats and The Palace Car State Rooms.

Illustrated Police News, February 22, 1879.

Cool-Break

Two Prisoners Handcuffed Together Jump from a Hotel Window in their Night Clothes and Escape.

Clinton West and W. J. Ninman were brought to North Manchester, Ind. from Union City in that State on Tuesday night, Feb. 4. to answer to the charge of burglarizing Rev. Kempi's house in December last. They were taken to the American House to be kept until morning. Expressing a desire to go to bed, they were taken up stairs, handcuffed together, and their boots and clothing taken from the room, and they were allowed to retire. Between two and three o'clock it was discovered that they had jumped out of the window, a distance of about ten feet, and made their escape in their night clothes and stocking feet. They went four miles south of town. where they entered the stable of J. W. Mease, stole two of his horses and lit out. Men following in hot pursuit caught them on the horses.

Illustrated Police News, February 29, 1879.

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